Snow in Fall
by ShadowYoukai87
Summary: A strange girl, a strange town, and even stranger goings on.  What will the Elric brothers do?
1. Chapter 1

**By ShadowYoukai87**

**Disclaimer: To gain, something of equal value must be lost. Since I haven't anything valued high enough to own Full Metal Alchemist, I can't own it! I just borrow it sometimes.**

**Chapter 1 **

"Brother, are you sure this is the way to Arka?"

The blond boy ahead of him looked out to the horizon on top of the artificial boulder nearly ten feet high so he could see over the trees. Even with his back to his younger brother, Alphonse Elric could easily enough tell what was going through his older brother's mind.

"I think we're lost, Al."

Somehow, the fact he admitted it surprised him more than the fact that they were lost.

"So, now what?"

The elder Elric looked on for another few moments before replying. "I think I can see a town not too far from here. We should be able to make it by nightfall." With that, he clapped his hands and placed them on the boulder. A short while later, the rock had returned to its old size and shaped and the blond teen was once more shorter than the suit of armor that housed his brother. "Think you can make it that far?"

Al glanced up at the sky and frowned as best he could. "As long as those rain clouds hold off, we should be fine."

The older boy nodded and they began their descent down the rocky hill, mindful of their footing. If either of them so much as tripped, the results would be very unpleasant for both of them. The chances of finding a half decent mechanic out here were slim at best. They had barely reached the base of the hill when they heard a scream followed by shouts and what sounded like gunfire. They froze, listening for a few moments, trying to judge where the sounds were coming from and where they were going. The sound of metal hitting his chest made them both blink as a girl ran out from the woods, head looking behind her, but terror clear on her face. She tripped on a stone jutting out from the ground and fell right onto the elder brother.

"Hey, are you okay?"

She looked up at him, shaking as she moved back from him, her eyes large. Al was surprised to see that one was green and the other was blue. There was the sound of another shot and the girl looked back as the forms of men became visible through the woods.

"They're closer than I thought," she whispered to herself before making a move to run, hissing with pain and pulling up her skirt enough to see her ankle was bleeding, likely from the stone when she tripped.

"They're chasing you?"

She turned to the blond boy, as if seeing him for the first time, her eyes traveling slowly to Al and back. She nodded. "Please, you have to help me. I've done nothing wrong!"

There was another shot, this time landing on the ground a few feet back. "Well, you sure made them mad somehow."

"There she is! There's the witch!"

She turned to them, eyes large and pleading. "Please, you have to believe me, I'm not a witch! I never hurt anyone! Please!"

"Brother…"

He nodded. "Let me talk to them."

"Oh thank you! Thank you!" She smiled in relief as Al moved to stand between the girl and her pursuers.

"So, you really think she's not a witch?"

"There's no such thing as witches. It's against the laws of science." Standing next to his brother, the youth looked out at the group of men as they entered the clearing, guns in hand along with clubs and stones.

"Who the hell are you?!" A man stepped up, holding an old shotgun aimed pointedly at them, apparently the leader of the group.

"Funny, I was about to ask you the same thing."

"Brother, now's not the time for that!"

"Relax Al, I've got this under control."

"That's what I'm afraid of…"

Ignoring him, the blond youth stepped up. "I want to know what this girl did to deserve 20 men chasing after her with guns."

"She's a witch! She can do unholy things!"

"Unholy?" The girl asked from behind them. "You call saving your son from that falling log 'unholy'?"

"You used magic!"

"I used Alchemy!"

"That wasn't Alchemy, and even if it was, Alchemy is as good as witchcraft!"

"Alchemy is a science." Everyone stopped to stare at the blond youth. His voice was quiet and dangerous. "It's nothing like witchcraft."

"The way this girl does it, it is. She takes right after her father. I wouldn't be surprised if she dabbled in Human Alchemy too!"

"How dare you compare me to that man?!"

"Will you both shut up!"

"Stand aside, pipsqueak. This is none of your business!"

Al sighed inwardly. Of all the insults he could have used…

"Who the hell are you calling so short and an ant could walk over?!" At the last word, fist met cheek and the man went flying about fifty feet right into a tree. While the youth was panting, recovering from the outburst of anger, the other men of the group prepared their weapons for an attack.

"Every time, Brother. Can't you ever control your anger?"

The next thing they knew, they were bring pelted with stones, on hitting Al squarely on his head knocking the armor off and into the girl's arm. There was a collective gasp as everyone looked at the nothing that had been under it. Not phased, he turned to the girl.

"Could I have that back please?"

She nodded, handing it to him and watching curiously as he replaced it on his shoulders. She smiled at him as the mob stepped back.

"They're all witches!'"

"We can't take them all!"

"She summoned others to help her!"

They went on for a few moments, suddenly terrified. the leader tried to regain order, but, it was too late. It was only another moment before they all turned tail and ran.

"Well, that was easy."

"Thank you very much for your help."

The blond teen grinned. "Don't mention it. I can't stand people who don't understand that Alchemy is a science."

She smiled. "I know just what you mean. Oh no, how rude of me, I haven't intorduced myself." She bowed a little. "My name is Sylvie Vine."

"I am Alphonse Elric, and this is my older brother, Edward Elric."

Edward grinned. "I bet you've heard of us. We're pretty famous."

She shook her head. "Sorry."

"Well, you must have at least have heard of the Full Metal Alchemist." added the blond youth, grin shaking.

She nodded. "That's you?" He nodded. "Wow! You're even taller than I thought you'd be!"

**So, how was that? Please be kind, this is my first FMA fic. I hoped you enjoy, and please, R&R!**


	2. Chapter 2

**Snow in Fall**

**By ShadowYoukai87**

**Disclaimer: me no own, so you no sue.**

**Chapter 2**

It was easy to say your expectations were way off when your information was old. She had heard about the Full Metal Alchemist only the year before as being the youngest person ever allowed to pass the entrance exam at the age of 12. There was no way for her to know the information was over 3 years old and that 12 year old was now 15 and, therefore, much taller than she had expected, however, she told nothing of that to the Elric brothers. After seeing how Edward had reacted after being called a pipsqueak was enough to make her well wary of saying anything to imply he was short.

Still, that didn't make that night very comfortable. It had started to rain and with Alphonse clearly being made of metal, they had found a place to wait out the rain. It was rather small and with them all cramped into the little space, she really felt very awkward. For one, there was the fact that Alphonse had no body in that suit. She had read about that in an old book her father had had, but the process had never been perfected. When it had been writen, the practice had been theory. Alphonse was, however, very real. There was no doubt in her mind that it was Edward who had done, making him someone exceedingly talented, which was exactly what one would expect from being one of the state alchemists. There was no doubt his skills were far better than her own.

She sighed, shifting again. There was no way she could be comfortable. No one single way, and it annoyed her to no end. Edward was fast asleep and Alphonse was at least still. He didn't have a body, he likely didn't need sleep, but she did have a body, and she did need sleep. She closed her eyes and found herself suddenly in her home, when she was 3, the day her father died.

He was making that thing on the floor again, that circle with the strange writing and all the other strange things all over it. She sat nearby and watched as he worked in the familiar frenzy he seemed to put himself in every few weeks when he'd go around saying that he had finally found the answer. She had asked him a few times, but he had never told her the question. All she knew is that he would draw his strange picture and then it would glow and nothing would happen and he would mope for a few days until he was finally able to get up and look for the answer again.

She was surprised when he called for her. Normally, when he was in these moods, he'd ask her to either go away or ignore her altogether. She didn't hesitate to obey him and stood right where he told her, asking softly what he wanted. He never asked her to do anything unless he wanted her to do something. He asked her to hold out her hand and she did, pulling it back when he cut it with an knife. She demanded why he had done that, but he didn't reply, telling her to stay put and shut up, mumbling that this was finally it. She did as he said, knowing to disobey meant worse things than one little cut. She looked at the bleeding for a few moments, wondering at how the red liquid seemed to float up againt the normal way of things before flowing off her hands and to the ground, landing on the strange picture beneath her feet.

Suddenly, it began to glow, the same bright blue it always did before it suddenly turned black. She yelled, calling for her father, but he didn't answer. She screamed as she felt things grabbing at her, little black arms reaching out of the darkness, and then, suddenly, nothing. She opened her eyes and saw white. She turned until she saw this large black gate in front of her with odd symbols carved all over the door. She didn't know why, but it scared her.

It opened and she saw the face of a woman that looked like the woman in all of the pictures in the house, a young and beautiful woman smiling, not at her, but somewhere behind her. She turned and saw her father bringing the dark with him, the things pushing and pulling him to the gate. The woman smiled, calling softly until he was only feet from her.

"Maria..."

the instant he said that name, the woman changed into something black and twisted, leaping out of the gate and surrounding her father. She screamed, terrified, until her voice was hoarse.

Sylvie cut the scream off as quickly as she could, hoping to not disturb the others. She sat silent for a moment, calming herself from the too vivid memory. She hated his father for what he had tried to do, human transmutation, using her as the ingridient to get back her mother's soul. She still didn't know what that gate was, no book on alchemy had mentioned it, and she had searched in every one she could get her hands on.

"Are you alright?" The echoish voice of Alphonse Elric broke her attempt at concentration and she turned to him, as he turned to her.

"Yeah, just a nightmare." She looked around, surprised it was so light. "Where's Edward?"

"He went out for a few minutes." He was quiet, the impassive armour staring at her. "Are you sure you're okay? You're all white."

She smiled, pushing back some of her hair from her face as she smiled at the boy, letting the smile answer him until he turned away.

"Here we are, Arka!"

The boys behind her grinned and gave some quiet cheers as they looked at the town in front of them. She had to admit, this place had never looked so welcoming before. She watched as the boys slowly settled down beffore Ed asked her if there was an inn of some sort they could stay in. She grinned widly at that idea. After three days of getting them back on the road to Arka, it would be nice to have a bath and a nice sleep on a soft bed.

She hesitated before walking into the town, noticing something. Arka wasn't a small town, not by any means. It was the largest in miles and everyone knew it. There was a market and there were always too many people in it, but today, there was no one, not one soul and it was already late morning. The stands weren't even set up. Al, noticing her unease, asked what was wrong. Ed turned her worries down, making up some excuse about how it was probably some holiday. She nodded, not entirely convinced.

They walked in, each looking carefully for someone though they had all made a show of agreeing with Ed's claim. They walked into the town, through the empty streets, past the quaint houses that stood silent around them. They went on for a few minutes, watching, looking, all on their toes. The sound of a crash made them all jump and she screamed before seeing that it had been a cat knocking over a garbage can.

"Brother! Look how thin the poor thing is! It must be so hungry!"

"Oh no Al, we are not taking the cat with us. It's fine here. We have too-" A man suddenly walked tight into him. "Hey! Watch where you're going!"

But, too late. the man had disappeared into the crowd that milled around them, women shopping for that night's dinner, children yelling and playing as they weaved through the crowd, men sitting and talking at the doorways to almost every house. The three of them sttod still for a moment, trying to get their bearings.

"This place _was_ just deserted, right?"

Ed nodded at her dumbly. "At least, I'm pretty sure it was." He turned to his brother. "Al! Put that cat down right now!"

**Sorry it took so long to update! And thanks to everyone who reviewed! I hope this meets your expectations! hehehe, the plot thickens. I was debating weather to put her past in right away or not, but, i think it works where it is. Besides, it's important to who she is and I wanted you all to know before Ed or Al did, because it's funner that way, I think. Anyways, R&R! And don't worry, the next update will be much sooner!!! SY**


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